Amending anti-hopping law needs bipartisan discussion - minister

Amending the anti-party-hopping law requires thorough bipartisan discussion and agreement, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said.

She said the Legal Affairs Division is ready to propose amendments to the act, as mentioned by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim last Friday.

“Now the government has agreed to look at that. There should not be any problem if the prime minister directs me in the cabinet meeting to bring a note in terms of the new policy, I’m prepared,” she said.

Azalina was speaking to reporters when met at the Parliament building today.

On Friday, Anwar reportedly said the government is open to holding discussions to fix any loopholes in the Constitution (Amendment) Act (No. 3) 2022 (Act A1663).

Azalina said she previously proposed a “recall remedy” to be included in the act, but the matter was not agreed to by the Bersatu-led government then.

“We did mention ‘recall’, and also about the issue of party members being disciplined and sacked, what are the consequences?

“The government at that time did not want to address those issues yet,” she said.

On June 20, Bersatu submitted notices to Dewan Rakyat speaker Johari Abdul requesting for the six seats that belonged to the party’s former members to be vacated.

The notices were submitted based on the provisions of Article 49A(1)(a)(ii) of the Constitution, which states that a member of the House of Representatives shall cease to be a member of the House, and their seat shall become vacant when they cease to be a member of a political party.

However, on July 10, Johari reportedly ruled that there was no need for the Bersatu MPs, who declared their support for the government, to vacate their seats.

In response, opposition MPs staged a walk out of the Dewan Rakyat in protest.

The six MPs in question are Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal (Bukit Gantang), Suhaili Abdul Rahman (Labuan), Zahari Kechik (Jeli), Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (Gua Musang), Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (Kuala Kangsar), and Zulkafperi Hanapi (Tanjong Karang).

- Bernama

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